Cat Stories (2019)

Directed by: Carmen Cobos | 73 minutes | documentary

In the Netherlands it is the most normal thing in the world to have a pet that is actually part of the family. Max the dog or Minoes the cat gets his own place in the house to sleep – or can go to bed with the owner. Toys are bought for the animal, it is talked about and he or she is extensively brushed and cuddled. When we go on holiday, a babysitter is provided and if the dog or cat is very lucky, they can even come with us on a trip. Moreover, pets are a real industry; in addition to countless types of kibble, snacks, care products and cat litter, there are all kinds of accessories available for our four-legged friends. Nowadays there are even clothing items such as rain jackets and body warmers for dogs! The Dutch hardly notice this observation, but for people from other cultures this is all very special. Spanish filmmaker Carmen Cobo has lived in the Netherlands for 22 years and is already quite used to many of our Dutch idiosyncrasies, but the way we treat our pets, especially our cats, continues to fascinate her immensely. “There were also cats at our home in Seville, but they didn’t come into the house.” She investigates why the Dutch have such a close bond with their cats in her documentary ‘Cat Stories’ (2019).

What emotional reasons lie behind the fact that millions of Dutch families adopt a cat as a pet? Carmen Cobos would like to understand that. She starts her research by making herself available as a cat sitter. It brings her into houses where the cats rule. Of course she is extensively instructed in advance, but if she actually has to take care of the cats herself, she is quite uncomfortable. In a funny mix of Spanish, Dutch and English she tries to talk to the cats – because apparently the Dutch do too – and to build a bond with them. But anyone who has cats knows that the animals are quite headstrong; for many, this is also an important reason to bring a cat into their home: they have character. In between babysitting, she visits the Amsterdam DOA, the second oldest animal shelter in the Netherlands, where dozens of cats are waiting for a new owner. There she meets Marieke, who, like a kind of foster mother, takes in very pregnant or recently gave birth shelter cats to take care of mother and kittens for a period of three months. They are being prepared for a new life, as it were, with a nice owner at home. Carmen also meets Ineke, who brought a number of traditional Siamese cats from Ecuador in the 1990s and has been breeding the purebred cats ever since. On the first acquaintance, Carmen is immediately in the front row: that day the ‘stud cat’ can try to impregnate a cat in heat. At a veterinary clinic in Alkmaar she sits ‘front row’ during a sterilization and an operation. In between acts, she talks to people who tell her about their special bond with their cat. Of course, many furry four-legged friends – in all shapes and sizes – come into view. Cute kittens, fickle old tomcats, pedigree cats and ordinary house, garden and kitchen cats.

Making stories about ordinary people, that’s what Carmen Cobos is all about. The Seville-born filmmaker started her career in healthcare, but made the switch to film and TV in the early 1990s, moved to England and started working as a researcher at the BBC. There she met the Dutch cameraman and producer Kees Ryninks, with whom she moved to Amsterdam in 1997 and founded their own production house Cobos Films. As a producer, she worked with renowned filmmakers such as Heddy Honigmann and John Appel. Since 2012, she has also been directing films in which (classical) music is the main subject. ‘Cat Stories’ differs from films like ‘Imperfect Harmony’ (2014) and ‘Nelsons No. 5’ (2015), but is all the more about ordinary people. A bond with a pet is something very personal and that gives this otherwise fairly light portrait something intimate. With a pleasant dose of subtle humor, Cobos manages to keep the viewer’s attention without difficulty. That humor is not only in the tone in which she speaks to her pet cats, but also in the portraits of the cat lovers themselves. The commentary on the arranged fertilization of the purebred cats and the rebellious behavior of Aagje, the old red cat of Carmen’s friend Albert (and the way in which he comments on that behaviour) are intended to be hilarious or not.

The fact that we see from various angles how cats are part of our society, our families, gives the film a nice balance. Whether Carmen Cobos fully understands the animals herself, we may question that (the only cat that – in her own words – seems to like her somewhat after all these weeks, is precisely that obstinate Aagje!), but in her mission to better understand cat owners, she did succeed. When Ineke talks about the death of her beloved cat Mañana, Carmen is genuinely moved and the caring cat foster mother Marieke has also stolen her heart. You actually have to experience the love that people feel for cats in order to understand it. If you don’t feel it, you really can’t comprehend it. But Carmen Cobos makes a very nice effort with this film, which is very entertaining thanks to its humor and light-heartedness.